The Ionia County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing Tuesday on a proposed new county facility to provide additional office space and enable the relocation of Friend of the Court operations into a more secure and accessible environment.

The hearing begins at 7 p.m. in the commissioners' meeting room on the third floor of the Ionia County Courthouse.

The county facilities have been in need of an update for more than a decade, said Julie Calley, board of commissioners chair. In 2005, the then-commissioners initiated an extensive study of insufficiencies.

"At that point in time, they deemed that Friend of the Court needed to be housed somewhere else. It is not an appropriate location, and it is not ADA-accessible," Calley said, referring to the Americans with Disabilities Act. "That has been weighing heavily on the mind of the board. It's been on our ‘to-do' list, but it's never been on the ‘to-done.'"

The commissioners have spent the past 11 months reviewing options with a facilities planner. The current two would be on the former Ionia County Jail property, next to the Courthouse. One would tear down the building and build a new facility in that footprint; the other would rehab the building that is there, said Calley.

The board of commissioners in 2006 set aside $2.2 million for the project, said Calley. Frank Bednarek of Hooker DeJong, Inc., the architectural and engineering firm working with the board of commissioners, has estimated a cost of $1.8 to $2.1 million to build a new facility, and $1.4 to $1.7 million to remodel the existing jail building.

"Now is the time, because we're looking at using public funds, to ask the public for input," she said. "We're looking forward to a dialogue with citizens."

At the public hearing, Calley plans to give citizens some background information on the matter as well as the options that have been discussed, before opening the floor to comment.

"If we go ahead with construction, we will have to have other conversations," Calley said, such as where to house the maintenance department and where to move items that are being stored — both of which are now in the old jail, possible parking lot changes and the future of the Friend of the Court building. "But tomorrow's discussion is about the former jail location and its future."

Calley said commissioners do not intend to vote to make a decision Tuesday night.

"We intend to listen to citizens, and go home and mull it over some," she said.